I purchased this book for my own personal collection.
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Published: March 5, 2019
Summary:
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Beartown returns with an unforgettable novel.
Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did.
Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too.
A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.
Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the town’s enmity with Hed grows more and more acute.
As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies. By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you.
Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.
My thoughts:
After finally reading Beartown in November, and completely falling in love with that book, I knew I had to continue on with the series. That book and its characters completely stole my heart, and I approached this second book a little cautiously, knowing my heart was in for another bumpy ride…and I was right.
The characters of Beartown have completely won me over as much as the author has. This second book is as good as the first one and I will forever be a fan. Once again, we have another powerful, heartbreaking, yet heartwarming story that managed to get me in all the feels. It takes a talented writer to be able to get one to go from anger to sadness to joy to rage all in the course of a few pages, over and over again and yet this author manages to do that.
When I read his books, I feel so connected to his characters. By the end of the book, I feel as if they are people I know very well. They just come alive on the page. There is such a small-town feel here and that all-for-one mentality is very strong.
This book once again tackles some hard topics but it’s done in such a way that you find yourself completely engrossed in what is going on, both wanting to and needing to know how it will all work out. One of the major themes in the book is trauma and how it can have lasting effects not only on the victim but also on others. Because of this, I do feel it is best to read this series in order. So much is carried over from the first book, not to mention the continued character development.
I am both eager and hesitant to pick up the final book in this series, The Winners, which I will be reading this month. Have you read this series yet? I know I’ll be keeping these on my shelf because these are ones I definitely see myself rereading in the future…they are just that good!
Books in this series:
- Beartown
- Us Against You
- The Winners
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